Learn about the golden records NASA launched into space with their Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes; the 5 most bacteria-ridden spots in your office; and why cats love boxes, according to science. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: NASA Once Launched a Golden Record of Earth's Music Into Space The 5 Most Bacteria-Ridden Spots in Your Office Why Do Cats Love Boxes? Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Learn about the golden records NASA launched into space with their Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes; the 5 most bacteria-ridden spots in your office; and why cats love boxes, according to science.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/nasas-voyager-golden-records-why-cats-love-boxes-and-bacteria-hot-spots-in-your-office
CODY GOUGH: Hi, we've got three stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you'll learn about Golden Records NASA's launched into space, the five most bacteria ridden spots in your office, and why cats love boxes.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity.
ASHLEY HAMER: 41 years ago today, Voyager 1 launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. And when it blasted off on September 5th, 1977, it was carrying some pretty interesting cargo. Today, we're going to take a look at the Golden Records we launched into space on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.
Cody, you know that I'm a huge Carl Sagan fan girl, right?
CODY GOUGH: Yes. Yes, I do.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yes.
CODY GOUGH: I know you have at least one Carl Sagan t-shirt.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh yeah, that's my Carl "Sa-gains" muscle shirt.
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: All right. When you're wearing a muscle gains t-shirt with an astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist on it, yeah, you're really going pretty niche there.
ASHLEY HAMER: It's the best.
CODY GOUGH: Is it the best?
ASHLEY HAMER: It really is.
CODY GOUGH: I know Carl Sagan has a lot to do with this story, so I guess this is something you're pretty excited about.
ASHLEY HAMER: It is. It's one of my favorite things. So let's talk about Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They have traveled farther than any other human-made object, visiting every planet in our solar system along the way. In 2012, Voyager 1 left our solar system and entered interstellar space. And Voyager 2 is currently in the Helios sheath, a kind of transitional region just at the edge of our solar system.
Voyager 1 was actually launched after Voyager 2, but Nasa named the probes based on the order they'd leave our solar system. Both probes are carrying a golden LP record, with sounds and pictures of life on Earth. And for that, you can thank Carl Sagan. In 1972, half a decade before the Voyager probes launched, NASA's launched the Pioneer 10 probe. That was the first spacecraft to escape our solar system.
Before it launched, Carl Sagan figured we could use the probe to talk to extraterrestrials, so he and his wife at the time got with SETI founder Frank Drake--
CODY GOUGH: Not Francis Drake.
ASHLEY HAMER: And they designed a plaque for the probe, with images of a man and a woman, Earth's place in the galaxy, and a diagram of the hydrogen atom. Fast forward to the Voyager probes and Sagan worked with experts to come up with the Golden Record. It's a 12 inch gold plated copper disk with 115 images, various sound clips, and 90 minutes of music from around the world.
It also bears engravings of our place in the galaxy, along with visual instructions on how to play it, and a cartridge and stylus. The images are encoded in analog form and include everything from science diagrams, to nature scenes, to a photo of Jane Goodall with chimpanzees. There are greetings from humans in 55 different languages and more than two dozen musical selections, including "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry, Mozart's "The Magic Flute," and Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony."
You can see the full playlist in our write up on Curiosity.com and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS. Happy anniversary, Voyager.
CODY GOUGH: How dirty is your office? I don't mean how messy is it, I mean how much bacteria is crawling around your desk? Microbiologist Michael Laughlin recently wrote about how disgusting the average office is, and today we'll pass along some pointers for making it a little less gross.
Ashley, you remember that time we did the story about how dirty your keyboard is?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: And we went on a cleaning frenzy in the office.
ASHLEY HAMER: I think we're going to do the same thing this time.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
Well, we don't want to gross you out too much, but here are five spots you might want to sanitize once in a while. First, sinks and handles. ATP is a chemical compound exhaled by all living cells, and a test from Kimberly-Clark showed that microwave handles and sink faucets were the worst surfaces of all, in terms of containing ATP.
Next up, mugs and cups. According to a 1997 study, as much as 90% of office coffee mugs are coated in germs. Some unspeakably bad germs too, that I won't mention on this podcast. But you can read about those in our full write up. Now let's get to your desk. The average desk has been shown to host 400 times as much bacteria as a toilet seat. That's more than 20,000 bacteria per square inch. So maybe don't eat lunch at your desk.
Then comes pens and stationery. There have actually been studies on bacterial colonization on writing pens in health care environments, but they can get pretty dirty in your office too. So watch who you lend your pen to, especially if you chew on it. And finally there's your phone. There's actually some debate on how sanitary your cell phone is. But your desk phone is probably pretty gross. So don't risk getting sick from a dirty desk.
We're not professional cleaning experts, but if nothing else, we hope that now that you know all this, you'll think about grabbing a wet wipe and giving your workspace a once over from time to time.
ASHLEY HAMER: Since reading this article, I actually haven't eaten lunch at my desk.
CODY GOUGH: I've noticed that.
ASHLEY HAMER: It's also just good socially. Like, you need to take a break for a second.
CODY GOUGH: Very true.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. Today's episode is sponsored by PBS.
CODY GOUGH: Do you love a good book? Have a favorite novel? Catcher in the Rye, 1984, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Gone with the Wind, The Color Purple, so many classic and beloved stories. It's hard to pick just one, but PBS needs your help doing just that.
ASHLEY HAMER: PBS has a list of America's 100 best loved novels, and they need you to help pick number one. The Great American Read returns Tuesdays this fall at 8:00/7:00 Central, starting September 11th on your PBS station. Host Meredith Vieira talks to some of your favorite authors, celebrities, and athletes about the subjects and stories found in our favorite books.
They'll explore the many ways in which these novels affect, reflect, and connect us all.
CODY GOUGH: Go to pbs.org to see the entire list. Vote for your favorites and share with your friends. It all leads up to the grand finale on Tuesday, October 23rd when all the votes are counted and America's favorite novel is announced. Celebrate reading, books, and imagination. Join the conversation at #GreatReadPBS. The Great American Read returns Tuesdays this fall at 8:00/7:00 Central, starting September 11th, on your local PBS station.
ASHLEY HAMER: Have you ever wondered why cats love boxes so much? Well, lucky for you, science actually has some answers. Cody, have I told you my big pet peeve about articles talking about why your cat does weird things?
CODY GOUGH: No.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, because the answer is always, nobody knows.
CODY GOUGH: Is it?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. It's always like, some veterinarians think this and some think that, but nobody really knows.
CODY GOUGH: So do we really know here?
ASHLEY HAMER: Why cats love boxes has about the most solid science you'll get on cat behavior.
CODY GOUGH: All right, so today we've collected some research and presented what a lot of scientists kind of figure.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: But it's not like, here for sure is why this thing is a thing.
ASHLEY HAMER: No cat has ever told us.
CODY GOUGH: [LAUGHS]
ASHLEY HAMER: But there's some pretty solid science behind this one.
CODY GOUGH: OK.
ASHLEY HAMER: So let's talk about how cats act and why, right? When mother cats are about to give birth, they make a nest in a small secluded area that's protected from predators. Wild and domesticated cats do this. And once the kittens are born, everyone snuggles together.
The snuggling actually triggers endorphins in their brains. And the cozy confines of a nest or a box may provide that same endorphin-boosting effect to a cat. Another thing to keep in mind is that cats are naturally ambush predators, and a box is a pretty solid hiding spot. There are worse places to hide if you want to get the jump on someone.
Cats aren't exactly outgoing pets either. A 1999 study found that in households with two cats, half of the cats' time was spent out of each other's sight, even though they were usually within 10 feet of each other. So it's no wonder that they love boxes so much. And giving your cat a box can do a lot for it too.
In a small 2014 study published in Applied Animal Behavior Science, Dutch researchers showed that shelter cats who are given boxes to hide in adapted more quickly and were less stressed than cats who didn't have the boxes. So keep your empty Amazon Prime boxes, they're a lot cheaper than a laser pointer or a scratching tower.
Before we wrap up, we want to give a quick thank you if you've taken our listener survey. We're already making changes to our show based on your feedback. Keep it coming. You can find a link to the survey in today's show notes and on our podcast website, and on our Patreon page, and on a golden record we launched into space.
CODY GOUGH: We're still trying to explain the cost of that one to our CFO. But I'm guessing we'll get a reimbursement.
ASHLEY HAMER: It's very necessary.
CODY GOUGH: Sure.
ASHLEY HAMER: Join us again tomorrow for The Curiosity Daily, and learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: Stay curious. [MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.